Methods and apparatuses for performing random access in a telecommunications system

ABSTRACT

A method of enabling a user equipment to perform a contention based random access, includes maintaining a set of non-dedicated random access preambles for contention-free random access and a set dedicated random access preambles for contention-based random access. The method also includes determining a random access preamble identifier and transmitting a message to the user equipment containing the determined random access preamble identifier. Additionally, the method includes receiving from the user equipment a non-dedicated random access preamble that is selected by the user equipment based on the random access preamble identifier comprised in the transmitted message.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/SE2008/051452 with an international filing date of Dec. 15, 2008,which corresponds to the national-stage entry U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/473,582, filed May 28, 2009 and which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application No. 61/073,808 filed on Jun. 19, 2008, andthe contents of all of the preceding are incorporated herein byreference in herein.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to the field of wirelesstelecommunications, and, more particularly, to methods and apparatusesfor random access in a telecommunications system using a preamble.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is responsible for thestandardization of the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service)system, and LTE (Long term Evolution) is now under discussion as a nextgeneration mobile communication system of the UMTS system. LTE is atechnology for realizing high-speed packet-based communication that canreach data rates of more than 100 Mbps on the downlink and of more than50 Mbps on the uplink.

Generally, one or more cells are allocated to a radio base station,known in the 3GPP LTE system as eNB (enhanced/evolved NodeB) or eNodeB.In addition, eNBs in LTE will interact directly with the core networkand with other eNBs. A plurality of user equipments can be placed in acell served by an eNB. A user equipment (UE) can be represented by amobile phone, a wireless terminal, a laptop, a personal computer, apersonal digital assistant, a voice over internet protocol (VoIP)capable phone or any other 3GPP LTE capable UE. Generally, a UE's firstaccess to the system is performed by means of a random access (RA)procedure. The objectives of the RA procedure may include: initialaccess; handover; scheduling request (request for radio resources);timing synchronization, and the like. The radio network nodes generallycontrol the behavior of the UE. As an example, uplink transmissionparameters like frequency, timing and power are regulated via downlinkcontrol signalling from the radio base station (e.g. eNB) to the UE. Forthe uplink (UL) frequency and power estimate parameters, a UE can derivethose parameters from one or several downlink (control) signals.However, making a timing estimate for the uplink is more difficult dueto that the propagation delay between the eNB (or eNodeB) and the UE isgenerally unknown. As an example, when a UE is powered on or turned onor after a long standby time, the UE is not synchronized in the uplink.Therefore, before commencing traffic, the UE has to access the network,which in a first step includes obtaining synchronization to the network.This is usually done by the UE which performs measurement(s) bylistening to downlink signals and obtain from these signals timingsynchronization; an estimate of a frequency error, and also an estimateof the downlink pathloss. Even though the UE is now time-synchronized tothe downlink, signals to be sent from the UE are still not aligned withthe reception timing at the eNB (or eNodeB) due to said unknownpropagation delay. Thus the UE has to carry out a random access (RA)procedure to the network. The RA procedure is a procedure typically usedby the UE to request access to a system or resources when the UEdiscovers a need to acquire uplink synchronization or a need to make anuplink transmission and no resources for said uplink transmissions areyet available to the UE. Furthermore, synchronization or time alignmentof uplink transmissions aims to minimize interference with transmissionsof other UEs and increase resource efficiency by minimizing the need forguard bands.

The RA procedure can be classified into a contention-based random accessprocedure and a contention-free (or non-contention-based) random accessprocedure.

For the contention-based random access procedure, a first set forming apool of non-dedicated random access preambles are assigned per cell(i.e. to a eNodeB). This pool is primarily used when there isUE-originated data and the UE has to establish a connection and anadequate uplink timing relation with the network through the RAprocedure. When performing contention-based random access, the UEarbitrarily selects a preamble from the pool as the non-dedicated randomaccess preamble. This is known as UE initiated random access (supportedin LTE). Thus for contention-based random access, the network (or theeNB) is not (immediately) aware of which UE selected which preamble. Adrawback with this is that multiple UEs may in fact select the samepreamble and they may attempt to access the network (or eNodeB) at thesame time. This may cause collision(s) to occur. Thus, an extra step ofidentifying UEs trying to access the network (or eNodeB) and resolvingpotential collisions, a so-called contention resolution mechanism, isneeded.

For performing contention-free random access, there is also defined asecond set forming a pool of random access preambles assigned per cell(i.e. to a eNodeB). These preambles are known as dedicated random accesspreambles. Contrary to the non-dedicated random access preambles, adedicated random access preamble is assigned to the UE by the eNodeB. Inother words, this preamble cannot be autonomously selected by the UE andtherefore, for the duration of the validity of the assignment, thisdedicated random access preamble is exclusively dedicated to the UE.This is known as network triggered or network ordered random access(supported in LTE). Since a specific preamble is assigned/dedicated tothe UE, it is benefit of contention-free access that the eNodeB canimmediately know from the received preamble, which UE tries (or tried)to access the network. This thus eliminates the need for contentionresolution and therefore improves resource efficiency by minimizing therisk of collisions. Furthermore, avoiding the contention resolutionprocedure reduces the delay.

It should be noted that the network triggered random access describedabove, can be used to force a UE, which does not have a valid uplinktiming to synchronize its uplink to the timing at the eNodeB, e.g.,prior to the eNodeB making a downlink transmission for which the UE willneed to transmit an acknowledgment (ACK) or a negative-acknowledgment(or a non-acknowledgment) (NACK) feedback. It should also be mentionedthat because of the non-zero duration of the random access and uplinksynchronization procedure, the re-synchronization is typically forced inadvance of making the downlink transmission. If e.g. downlink dataarrives at the UE, synchronization needs to be re-established first, andfor this purpose, the above described dedicated random access preambleis assigned to the UE, which the UE can use to perform a contention-freerandom access procedure. This will trigger a timing advance adjustmentcommand from the eNB, and based on this command, the UE can re-establishtime-alignment.

Since the random access procedure is the first procedure performed bythe UE to access the network, it is important that random access worksas it should. If random access fails, the UE cannot access the network.An exemplary scenario where a random access procedure can fail or cannotbe establish is when all of the preambles (dedicated) are already inuse. As mentioned before, the eNodeB keeps track of the dedicatedpreambles it has already allocated/assigned, and when there is no suchdedicated preamble available for allocation, the eNB has to advice theUE on how to proceed. Thus, in the exemplary case where none of thededicated random access preambles is available for allocation, the UEcannot be instructed to perform a random access required to resume orconduct data transmissions. This will lead to delay in random access bythe UE until e.g. a dedicated preamble becomes available, thus leadingto unnecessary increase in data latency which is undesirable in anetwork.

SUMMARY

It is thus an object of the exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention to address the above mentioned problems and to provide methodsand apparatuses for enabling a UE to perform a successfulcontention-based random access procedure.

According to a first aspect of embodiments of the present invention, theabove stated problem is solved by means of a method in a radio basestation; to enable a user equipment to perform a contention based randomaccess. The radio base station representing a eNB or a eNodeB or aNodeB, is assigned a first set of non-dedicated random access preamblesand a second set of dedicated random access preambles. According toembodiments of the present invention, the radio base station determinesa random access preamble identifier (RAPID); transmits a message to theUE containing the determined RAPID; and receives from the UE anon-dedicated random access preamble that is selected by the userequipment based on the RAPID comprised in the transmitted message.

Thus, when, for example, none of the dedicated random access preamblesis available for allocation, a RAPID is determined by the radio basestation which signals it in a message to the UE and the UE selects basedon the received RAPID a non-dedicated preamble to performcontention-based random access to the system instead of contention-freerandom access.

According to a second aspect of embodiments of the present invention,the above stated problem is solved by means of a method in a UE forperforming a contention-based random access in a telecommunicationssystem comprising a radio base station. A first set of non-dedicatedrandom access preambles and a second set of dedicated random accesspreambles are assigned to the radio base station. The user equipmentreceives a message from the radio base station containing a RAPID,determines that the RAPID belongs to the first set of non-dedicatedrandom access preambles, selects a non-dedicated random access preamblefrom the first set based on the received RAPID; and transmits theselected non-dedicated random access preamble to the radio base stationto perform a contention-based random access.

According to a third aspect of embodiments of the present invention, theabove stated problem is solved by means of a radio base station forenabling a UE to perform a contention-based random access. As mentionedabove, a first set of non-dedicated random access preambles and a secondset of dedicated random access preambles are assigned to the radio basestation. The radio base station, according to embodiments of the presentinvention is configured to determine a RAPID; to transmit a messagecontaining the determined RAPID to the UE, and to receive from the UE anon-dedicated random access preamble that is selected by the UE based onthe RAPID.

According to a fourth aspect of embodiments of the present invention,the above stated problem is solved by means of a UE for performing acontention-based random access in a telecommunications system comprisinga radio base station. The radio base station is assigned a first set ofnon-dedicated random access preambles and a second set of dedicatedrandom access preambles. According to embodiments of the presentinvention, the UE is configured to receive a message containing a RAPIDfrom the radio base station, to determine whether the received RAPIDbelongs to the first set, to select a non-dedicated random accesspreamble from the first set based on the RAPID received in the message,and to transmit the selected non-dedicated random access preamble to theradio base station.

According to a fifth aspect of embodiments of the present invention, theabove stated problem is solved by means of a method in atelecommunications system, of enabling a UE to perform acontention-based random access, the system comprising a radio basestation being assigned a first set of non-dedicated random accesspreambles and a second set of dedicated random access preambles. Themethod comprises determining in the radio base station a RAPID;transmitting the RAPID from the radio base station to the UE, receivingat the UE the message from the radio base station, determining at saidUE that the received RAPID belongs to the first set; selecting in the UEa non-dedicated random access preamble from the first set based on thereceived RAPID; transmitting the selected non-dedicated preamble by theUE, and receiving the selected non-dedicated preamble by the radio basestation.

According to a sixth aspect of embodiments of the present invention, theabove stated problem is solved by means of a telecommunications systemfor enabling a UE to perform a contention based random access. Thesystem comprises a radio base station being assigned a first set ofnon-dedicated random access preambles and a second set of dedicatedrandom access preambles. In the system, the radio base station isconfigured to determine a RAPID, to transmit the RAPID to the userequipment, and to subsequently receive the non-dedicated preambletransmitted by the user equipment. The user equipment is configured toreceive the message containing the RAPID from the radio base station, todetermine that the received RAPID belongs to the first set, and toselect a non-dedicated random access preamble from the first set basedon the received RAPID.

An advantage with the present invention is that a random accessprocedure is performed by a UE even though e.g. none of the dedicatedrandom access preamble of the second set is available for allocation tothe UE.

Another advantage with the present invention is that data latency due tolack of e.g. dedicated random access preambles is reduced or eveneliminated.

Yet another advantage with the present invention is that existingsignaling formats are re-used and no special message format is needed toachieve a random access procedure in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention.

Still other objects and features of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, attention to be called to the fact, however, thatthe following drawings are illustrative only, and that variousmodifications and changes may be made in the specific embodimentsillustrated as described within the scope of the appended claims. Itshould further be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawnto scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intendedto conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures describedherein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless networktelecommunications system wherein exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of a method performed in aradio base station according to exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of a method performed in auser equipment according to exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary radio base stationaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary user equipmentaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for purposes of explanation and notlimitation, specific details are set forth such as particulararchitectures, scenarios, techniques, etc. in order to provide thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent tothe person skilled in the art that the present invention and itsembodiments may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from thesespecific details.

The different embodiments of the present invention are described hereinby way of reference to particular example scenarios. In particular, theinvention is described in a non-limiting general context in relation torandom access procedures in a telecommunications network system that isbased on the third generation (3G) long term evolution (LTE) concept. Itshould be noted that the present invention is not restricted to 3G LTEbut can be applicable in other wireless systems that employ randomaccess procedures, such as WiMAX (worldwide interoperability formicrowave access), or HSPA (high speed packet access) or HSUPA (highspeed uplink packet access) or HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access)or WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) etc.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a block diagram of anexemplary wireless telecommunications network system 100 in which thedifferent exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be applied.Note that the system depicted in FIG. 1 only shows transceivers or nodesthat are necessary for understanding the different exemplary embodimentsof the present invention. As shown, the system 100 which is hereconsidered to represent a simplified 3GPP LTE system, comprises a numberof user equipments UE 110, UE 111, UE 112, and apparatuses acting asradio base stations and denoted eNodeB 1 120, eNodeB 2, 121 and eNodeB 3122. One of the functions of the eNodeBs is to control traffic to andfrom UEs in a cell. A UE is suitable to be used as a mobile phone, awireless terminal, a laptop, a personal computer, a personal digitalassistant, a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) capable phone or anyother 3GPP LTE capable equipment. Traffic, over a radio link, from aeNodeB to a UE is referred to as downlink (DL) traffic and traffic, overa radio link, from the UE to a eNodeB is referred to as uplink (UL)traffic. Note that in FIG. 1, the number of UEs and eNodeBs is onlyillustrative and the embodiments of the present invention are notrestricted to any particular number of UEs and/or number of eNodeBsand/or number of cells per eNodeB.

Referring back to FIG. 1, it is here assumed that UE 111 and UE 112 areserved by eNodeB 1 120. In other words it is assumed that UE 111 and UE112 have already successfully random accessed the network 100 and areconnected wirelessly to the eNodeB 1 120. Furthermore, it is alsoassumed for ease of understanding the principles of the embodiments ofthe present invention, that a eNodeB e.g. eNodeB 1 120 is serving onecell alone, although this is not necessary. In LTE, there are in total aset comprised of 64 random access preambles available per cell. Thus, aeNodeB can be assigned these 64 preambles. It should be noted thatpreambles assigned to different cells controlled by the same eNodeB donot necessarily belong to the same set of preambles i.e. different sets(and pools) are typically cell specific. However, for betterunderstanding the different embodiments of the present invention, it isin here assumed that a eNodeB is serving a single cell and therefore, inthis case, it is adequate to state that a set of 64 preambles areassigned by eNodeB (or per cell).

A first set within this set of 64 preambles, forms a pool of preamblesfor use with contention-based random access. The preambles of this poolare, as mentioned earlier, known as non-dedicated random accesspreambles. This pool is primarily used when there is UE-originated dataand the UE has to establish a connection and/or an adequate uplinktiming relation with the network through the random access (RA)procedure. When performing contention-based random access, the UEchooses/selects a non-dedicated random access preamble from this firstset by random. For each non-dedicated random access preamble of thisfirst set is associated a preamble identification number (or preambleidentifier) called a RAPID (Random Access Preamble ID). Among the set of64 preambles, there is also a second set forming a pool of dedicatedrandom access preambles. A dedicated random access preamble of thesecond set is, as mentioned before, used to perform a contention-freerandom access. For contention-free random access, it is the eNodeB thatassigns a dedicated random access preamble to the UE. In other wordsthis type of random access is triggered by the network (e.g. theeNodeB). For contention-free random access, the eNodeB can therefore mapthe received preamble to the UE that has sent the random access preambleand has tried to access the system of network. Therefore, unlike forcontention-based random access, no contention resolution procedure needsto be performed.

Referring back to FIG. 1, assume that, in respect of the UE 110, acontention-free random access procedure is triggered by the network(e.g. by the eNBode 1 120) so that that the UE can establish a timealignment and synchronization to the network (e.g. eNodeB). This isschematically illustrated using a dashed arrow between UE 110 and eNodeB1 120. As mentioned earlier, the eNodeB 1 120 keeps track of all thededicated random access preambles it has allocated and that arecurrently in use. Once a contention-free random access has successfullycompleted or the validity of the dedicated preamble allocation hasexpired, the dedicated preamble can be re-used. However, in the eventthat none of the dedicated random access preambles in the second set isfor the moment available for allocation to the UE 110, the eNodeB, inaccordance with prior art solution, does not know what to advice (orinstruct) the UE 110 and thus the contention-free random accessprocedure have to be delayed until e.g. a dedicated random accesspreamble is available. However, according to embodiment of the presentinvention, as will be described below, the eNodeB 120 knows, if such anevent occurs, what advice (instruction) to give to the UE 110.

In the event none of the dedicated random access preamble is availablefor allocation to the UE 110, the eNodeB 1 120, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention, sends or transmits a message to theUE 110 and signals within that message a RAPID. The UE 110 thendetermines that the RAPID received in the message belongs to the firstset. The UE 110 then selects based on said received RAPID, anon-dedicated random access preamble from the first set. The UE 110 canthen perform a contention-based random access using the selectednon-dedicated random access preamble, instead of performing acontention-free random access. As a consequence, the establishment ofthe time-alignment and synchronization is not unnecessarily delayed andthe data latency is not unnecessarily increased.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the eNodeB 1 120signals the message comprising the RAPID to the UE 110, in a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH). According to another embodiment of thepresent invention, the eNodeB 1 120 signals the RAPID as part of ahandover (HO) command message to the UE 110.

As mentioned above, the eNodeB 1 120 determines a RAPID which e.g. isassociated with a non-dedicated random access preamble of the first set,when e.g. none of the dedicated random access preambles (forcontention-free random access) of the second set is available forallocation to the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the eNodeB 1 120 is configured/arranged to always select/usea fixed or pre-configured RAPID to signal a RAPID for contention-basedaccess to the UE 110. As an example if the eNodeB 1 120 explicitlysignals to the UE 110 a RAPID having a fixed ID value that is forexample equal to 000000, then the UE 110 determines based on said RAPIDthat it belongs to the first set of preambles, and based on this,selects a non-dedicated random access preamble from his first set inorder to perform a contention-based random access by transmitting theselected non-dedicated random access preamble.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the eNodeB 1120 is configured/arranged to randomly select a RAPID to signalcontention-based access to the UE 110 by sending the RAPID in a message(PDCCH message or as part of a HO command message). Again, when the UE110 receives the selected RAPID, it identifies that the RAPID belongs tothe first set of preambles (or that it does not belong to the second setthat forms the pool of dedicated random access preambles) and hence,that no dedicated preamble had been allocated to it and, consequently,the UE 110 knows that it should perform a contention-based random accessinstead of a contention-free random access. For that purpose, the UE 110selects, based on the received RAPID, a non-dedicated random accesspreamble from the first set in order to perform a contention-basedrandom access procedure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the UE 110 isconfigured/arranged to select a non-dedicated random access preamblefrom the second set, by directly selecting the non-dedicated randomaccess preamble that is associated with the received RAPID.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the UE 110randomly selects a preamble from the first set of non-dedicated randomaccess preambles, and uses it to perform a contention-based randomaccess.

Referring to FIG. 2 there is illustrated a flowchart of a method aimedto be performed/implemented in a radio base station (e.g. eNodeB), inaccordance with the above described embodiments of the presentinvention. As mentioned earlier, the radio base station is assigned afirst set forming a pool of non-dedicated random access preambles and asecond set forming a pool of dedicated random access preambles. Themethod in the radio base station, enables a UE to perform acontention-based random access instead of a contention-free randomaccess, due e.g. to that none of the dedicated random access preamblesare available for allocation to said UE.

The method comprises the following main steps:

-   -   (201) determining a RAPID;    -   (202) transmitting a message (e.g. on a PDCCH or as part of a HO        command message) to the UE, the message indicating the RAPID;        and    -   (203) receiving from the UE a non-dedicated random access        preamble that is selected by the UE based on the received RAPID.

As mentioned before the radio base station (or eNodeB) can use apre-configured RAPID that is explicitly signalled/transmitted in saidmessage in order to indicate to the UE that a contention-based randomaccess is to be performed. As an example, the radio base station canexplicitly signal in said message to the UE a pre-configured RAPID valuewhich is equal to e.g. 000000. The radio base station (or eNodeB) canalso randomly select a RAPID and explicitly signals the randomly chosenRAPID in a message to the UE. It should be mentioned that the radio basestation (e.g. eNodeB) is not restricted to the above described solutionon how to identify/detect that none of the dedicated random accesspreambles is available for allocation.

Referring to FIG. 3 there is illustrated a flowchart of a method aimedto be performed/implemented in a UE, in accordance with the previouslydescribed embodiments of the present invention. The method in the UE,enables said UE to perform a contention-based random access instead of acontention-free random access, due e.g. to that none of the dedicatedrandom access preambles are available for allocation to said UE.

The method comprises the following main steps:

-   -   (301) receiving a message from the radio base station (or        eNodeB), said message (on the PDCCH or as part of a HO command        message) comprises a RAPID;    -   (302) determining that the RAPID belongs to the first set of        non-dedicated random access preambles;    -   (303) selecting a non-dedicated random access preamble based on        the received RAPID; and    -   (304) transmitting the selected non-dedicated random access        preamble to the radio base station in order to perform a        contention-based random access using the selected preamble.

As mentioned earlier the UE can select a non-dedicated random accesspreamble that is directly associated with the received RAPID. The UE canalso randomly select a non-dedicated random access preamble from thefirst set of preambles.

Referring to FIG. 4 there is illustrated a block diagram of an exemplaryradio base station 400 (e.g. eNodeB) being configured/arranged to enablea UE to perform a contention-based random access. The radio base station400 is assigned a first set forming a pool of non-dedicated randomaccess preambles and a second set forming a pool of dedicated randomaccess preambles. As shown in FIG. 4, the radio base station 400comprises processing means 401 adapted to determine a RAPID. As anexample, the processing means 401 can identify that no dedicated randomaccess preambles can be allocated to the UE and can then determine theRAPID. The radio base station 400 further comprises transmitting means402A, denoted TX in FIG. 4, which is adapted/configured to transmit orsend the determined RAPID to said UE in a message (i.e. on the PDCCH oras part of a HO command message). The radio base station 400 furthercomprises receiving means 402B, denoted RX in FIG. 4, which isarranged/configured to receive, from the UE, a non-dedicated randomaccess preamble that is selected by the UE based on the received RAPID.As previously described, the radio base station is adapted to determinea RAPID by selecting a pre-configured RAPID. The radio base station mayalso randomly select a RAPID. Additional actions performed by the radiobase station have already been described and are therefore not repeated.It should however be mentioned that the different exemplary blocks shownin FIG. 4 are not necessarily separated. Furthermore the TX means 402Aand the RX means 402B are not necessarily included in the same blocki.e. they each can be represented by a single block. The radio basestation 400 is therefore not restricted and is not limited to theexemplary block diagram shown in FIG. 4. In addition, the radio basestation 400 may also comprise other element and/or blocks notillustrated in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5 there is illustrated a block diagram of an exemplaryuser equipment UE 500 capable in performing a contention-based randomaccess, in accordance with previously described embodiments of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the UE 500 comprises receivingmeans 501A, denoted RX in FIG. 5, which is adapted/configured to receivefrom a radio base station a message comprising a RAPID. As anon-limiting example, the message (e.g. on the PDCCH or as part of a HOcommand message) can be received due to that none of the dedicatedrandom access preambles (of the second set) is available for allocationas previously described. The UE 500 further comprises processing means502 configured/adapted to determine that the received RAPID belongs tothe first set. The UE 500 further comprises selecting means 503 (whichcan be part, but not necessarily, of the processing means 502) which isadapted/configured to select based on the received RAPID, anon-dedicated random access preamble. The UE 500 further comprisestransmitting means 501B, denoted RX in FIG. 5, which isadapted/configured to transmit to said radio base station the selectednon-dedicated random access preamble in order to perform acontention-based random access. It should be mentioned that theprocessing means 502 may also be adapted to perform the contention-basedrandom access in cooperation with TX means 501B. As mentioned earlier,the UE can select a non-dedicated random access preamble by directlyselecting a non-dedicated random access preamble that is associated withthe RAPID. The UE can also randomly select a preamble as previouslydescribed.

It should be noted that it is expected that e.g. LTE systems will bedeployed in a wide range of scenarios, from pico cells to very largecells of up to 100 km and beyond. Since the random access is the firstprocedure performed by a UE to access a network it is very importantthat the random access procedure works well in all anticipated scenarioseven in a exemplary scenario when none of the dedicated random accesspreamble is available for allocation to a UE. The previously describedexemplary embodiments of the present invention thus successfully dealwith at least such problem scenario. It should be mentioned that inpreviously described exemplary embodiments of the present invention, bynone of the dedicated random access preambles is available forallocation, is also meant, no dedicated random access preamble isavailable for allocation.

The present invention and its embodiments can be realized in many ways.For example, one embodiment of the present invention includes acomputer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that areexecutable by a radio base station (e.g. eNodeB or eNB) and/or a UE of atelecommunications system. The instructions executable by the radio basestation and/or the UE and stored on a computer-readable medium performthe method steps of the present invention as set forth in the claims.

While the invention has been described in terms of several preferredembodiments, it is contemplated that alternatives, modifications,permutations and equivalents thereof will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art upon reading of the specifications and study of thedrawings. It is therefore intended that the following appended claimsinclude such alternatives, modifications, permutations and equivalentsas fall within the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method in a radio base station, to enable auser equipment to perform a contention based random access, said methodcomprising: maintaining a set of non-dedicated random access preamblesfor contention-based random access and a set of dedicated random accesspreambles for contention-free random access; determining a random accesspreamble identifier when no dedicated random access preamble isavailable for allocation to said user equipment; transmitting a messageto the user equipment containing the determined random access preambleidentifier; and receiving from the user equipment a non-dedicated randomaccess preamble that is selected by the user equipment based on therandom access preamble identifier comprised in the transmitted message.2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a random access preambleidentifier comprises selecting a pre-configured random access preambleidentifier that is associated with a non-dedicated random accesspreamble of a first set of non-dedicated random access preambles.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein determining a random access preambleidentifier comprises randomly selecting a random access preambleidentifier that is associated with a non-dedicated random accesspreamble of a first set of non-dedicated random access preambles.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein transmitting a message to the user equipmentcontaining the determined random access preamble identifier comprisestransmitting the message containing said random access preambleidentifier on a physical downlink control channel.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein transmitting a message to the user equipment containingthe determined random access preamble identifier comprises transmittingthe random access preamble identifier in a handover command message. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein receiving from the user equipment anon-dedicated random access preamble that is selected by the userequipment based on the random access preamble identifier comprisesreceiving said non-dedicated random access preamble from the userequipment while the user terminal is attempting a contention basedrandom access.
 7. A method of enabling a user equipment to perform acontention based random access in a telecommunications system comprisinga radio base station to which are assigned a first set of non-dedicatedrandom access preambles and a second set of dedicated random accesspreambles, the method comprising: receiving, from said radio basestation, a message containing a random access preamble identifier;determining that the random access preamble identifier received in saidmessage is associated with one or more non-dedicated preambleidentifiers; randomly selecting a non-dedicated random access preambleof the first set based on the random access preamble identifier receivedin said message; and transmitting the selected non-dedicated randomaccess preamble to the radio base station.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein selecting a non-dedicated random access preamble comprisesselecting a non-dedicated random access preamble of the first set thatis associated with the random access preamble identifier received insaid message.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving a messagecontaining a random access preamble identifier comprises receiving saidmessage containing the random access preamble identifier on a physicaldownlink control channel.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving amessage containing a random access preamble identifier comprisesreceiving the random access preamble identifier in handover commandmessage.
 11. A method in a telecommunications system of enabling a userequipment to perform a contention based random access, said systemcomprising radio base station being assigned a first set ofnon-dedicated random access preambles and a second set of dedicatedrandom access preambles, the method comprising: determining, by saidradio base station, a random access preamble identifier; receiving, atthe user equipment, a message from the radio base station containing thedetermined random access preamble identifier; determining, by said userequipment, that the received random access preamble identifier belongsto the first set; randomly selecting, by said user equipment, anon-dedicated random access preamble from the first set based on thereceived random access preamble identifier; transmitting, from said userequipment, the selected non-dedicated random access preamble; andreceiving, at the radio base station, the selected non-dedicated randomaccess preamble transmitted from the user equipment.
 12. A radio basestation for enabling a user equipment to perform a contention basedrandom access, said radio base station being assigned a first set ofnon-dedicated random access preambles and a second set of dedicatedrandom access preambles, said radio base station comprising: one or moreprocessors configured to determine a random access preamble identifierwhen none of said dedicated random access preambles of the second set isavailable for allocation to said user equipment; a transmitterconfigured to transmit a message containing the determined random accesspreamble identifier to the user equipment; and a receiver configured toreceive, from the user equipment, a non-dedicated random access preamblethat is selected by the user equipment based on the random accesspreamble identifier comprised in the transmitted message.
 13. The radiobase station of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors areconfigured to determine the random access preamble identifier byselecting a pre-configured random access preamble identifier that isassociated with a non-dedicated random access preamble of the first set.14. The radio base station of claim 12, wherein the one or moreprocessors are configured to determine the random access preambleidentifier by randomly selecting a random access preamble identifierthat is associated with a non-dedicated random access preamble of thefirst set.
 15. The radio base station of claim 12, wherein thetransmitter is configured to transmit the message containing the randomaccess preamble identifier on a physical downlink control channel. 16.The radio base station of claim 12, wherein the transmitter isconfigured to transmit the random access preamble identifier in ahandover command message.
 17. The radio base station of claim 12,wherein the receiver is configured to receive said selectednon-dedicated random access preamble from said user equipment while saiduser equipment is attempting a contention based random access.
 18. Auser equipment for performing a contention based random access in atelecommunications system comprising a radio base station to which isassigned a first set of non-dedicated random access preambles and asecond set of dedicated random access preambles, said user equipmentcomprising: a receiver to receive, from said radio base station, amessage containing a random access preamble identifier; one or moreprocessors configured to determine that said received random accesspreamble identifier belongs to the first set, and to randomly select anon-dedicated random access preamble from the first set based on thereceived random access preamble identifier; and a transmitter totransmit the selected non-dedicated random access preamble to said radiobase station.
 19. The user equipment of claim 18, wherein said one ormore processors are configured to select the non-dedicated random accesspreamble by selecting, from the first set, a non-dedicated random accesspreamble that is associated with the random access preamble identifierreceived in said message.
 20. The user equipment of claim 18, whereinthe receiver is configured to receive said message containing the randomaccess preamble identifier on a physical downlink control channel. 21.The user equipment of claim 18, wherein the receiver is configured toreceive said message containing the random access preamble identifier aspart of a handover command message.
 22. A telecommunications systemcomprising: a radio base station being associated with a first set ofnon-dedicated random access preambles and a second set of dedicatedrandom access preambles, said radio base station comprising: one or moreprocessors configured to determine a random access preamble identifier;a transmitter operatively connected to processor to transmit a messagecontaining the determined random access preamble identifier to a userequipment; and a receiver configured to receive, from the userequipment, a non-dedicated random access preamble that is selected bythe user equipment based on the random access preamble identifiercomprised in the transmitted message; and the user equipment comprising:a receiver configured to receive, from said radio base station, saidmessage containing said random access preamble identifier; one or moreprocessors configured to determine that said received random accesspreamble identifier belongs to the first set, and to randomly select anon-dedicated random access preamble from the first set based on thereceived random access preamble identifier; and a transmitter configuredto transmit the selected non-dedicated random access preamble to saidradio base station.